The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1887-12-28
Leaves and Lives.
awe all do fade as leaf. Isaiah

ave all do fade as leaf Isaiah.
There seems to have been tinge OF melan-
choly in the heart Of the prophet when he
wrote these words-a kind Of giving way TO
sadness and despair. Perhaps he was just in
that frame of mind which comes to us all at
times, when frost seems to rest upon the
spots Of life that are usually so green and
ings is changed, We hardly know how, until
we feel its chilliness
When we are in such moods the autumnal
season Of nature chimes in most harmonious
". Its decay and death help to deepen the
sadness and gloom Of life, and SO in our
prayers and hymns of praise we mlngle the
song Of a fading leaf. In this way many
who look upon the darker side of life come to
dread the approach of the season Of autumn,
for all through the days of sunshine or OF
storm, as the leaves come quivering from
the branch and the flower withers on the
stem, they are brooding over llfes short ala
f1eeting days.
But do we wisely thus to allow nature to
minister only to morbid taste-to keep
alive thought of decay and DEATH isthere
not higher and nobler view of life that the
fading leaf may teach us and inspire to reach
after!
There is no season OF the year that opens
to us such varied contrasts Of life and death
as the season Just preceding its winter. To
take a general survey of the forests and fields
we are struck with the rich and gorgeous
coloring from the deep green to the bright
yelow-all shades and varieties; some of the
leaves clinging to life and retaining thelr
greenness even after the cold November
winds have shaken them from the trees,
while others are turning purple, and crimson
and yellow. These varied tints give warm
glow to the forest and remind us that though
the summer is past and Nature IS preparing
for her winters sleep, there is still beauty In
autumn fruitage and the fading leaf. Let
Is pause to SEQ how we may fade as the
leaf" and yet like the leaf remain thing OF
beauty.
When the green leaf fades it merely gives
up its blue while it retains its yellow. The
yellow, or golden coloring of the leaf, is its
more enduring tint. The blue tones down
tho yellow, making it pleasant to the sight in
the glaring sunshine Of the summer days,
but when the autumn haziness comes the
light is not so intense and penetrating, and
the blue, being no longer needed, fades away
Leaves fade in their season when fully ripe.
Are there not two colors entering in to
make up the greenneSS Of our lives
the spiritual and the natural, The
spiritual answers to the yellow in the leaf, is
! permnncnt color and gives a golden finish
to the inner life. The natural answers to
. lne DlGe Ill Cne leal, anu gives lIeSnlleSS dIQ
':vacity to the outward life.
Where the natural and the spiritual na-
tIres Of man arc harmoniously blended We
have life's bt autiful summer greenness. But
in lifeS autumn there comes q fading of the
natural and the spiritual shines more
brightly.
To fade, then, like the leaf, is to bring to
view more prominently that which is most
enduring, and the aim of life should be to
mingle most beautifully, in its season. the
blue and the yellow coloring, so when that
which is green begins to fade it may be to a
more golden tint.
The words of the prophet still ring in ocr
ears, 1--WE all do fade as a leaf" We may
chant them in the ears Of the dying; we may
quote them with q saddened look to the aged
man, whose sflvered locks and tottering step
whisper the near approach of the Angel of
Death; or we may try to arrest the ardent
aspirings Of youthful ambitions by its doleful
music, but after all, is our fading like tho
leafl Is there something underneath and
making part of the greenness of our lives
that is eternal and unfading'
If the rays of Gods moral sunlight have
fallen into our hearts, and we have separated
each ray into its varied tints and have found
thread of golden virtue twining itself into
the very network of our being, then can we
surely feel that though the greenness and the
freshness of our lives fade away, it shall be
like the fading leaf in the autumn of the
year-growing more beautiful by the out
shining Of its golden coloring.-lH. w.
Treadway.